FC Dallas announced today that the club has acquired Fabrice “Fafà” Picault in exchange for $300,000 of 2020 General Allocation Money from the Philadelphia Union. There could be an additional $70k in GAM is Picault meets certain requirements.
Picault is currently out of contract, this trade is basically for his MLS rights. One would hope FC Dallas can get a deal done and at least have had preliminary discussions with the player and his agent. In 2019, Picault was on a base salary of $159,999 with guaranteed compensation of $173,667 (according to the MLS PA).
Picault, 28 is primarily a left wing but can play anywhere in the front three. In this post on FCDallas.com, coach Luchi Gonzalez talks about how Picault is a good fit for the “Luchi-Ball” system.
“He comes from a system that Jim Curtain has been implementing the last few years involving ball possession and dynamic movements in behind [the defense] and moments of pressure.”
Dallas has struggled at left wing going all the way back to the departure of Fabian Castillo in 2016. The acquisition of Picault probably makes Dom Badji expendable, as we predicted.
Over his 8-year pro career, Picault has played for Tampa Bay Rowdies (2012), Fort Lauderdale Strikers (2013), Sparta Prague (2015), FC St. Pauli (2015-2017), and the Philadelphia Union (2017-2019). In three seasons at Union, Picault scored 21 goals with 12 assists in 89 games played.
An American with just 1 cap back in 2016, Picault came up in the Cagliari youth system. Of Haitian ancestry, Picault has been called into the Haiti National Team but was never capped.
The Picault move also likely ends any interest in the Romain Philippoteaux, a french left wing at Nîmes, that had been reported from Europe.
Hopefully, FCD won’t give him the no. 9 jersey. He can have the 7, even though it’s kind of the wrong side.
Full Name: Fabrice “Fafà” Picault
Pronunciation: Pea-CO
Connect with Fafa: Twitter | Instagram
Position: Midfielder
DOB: February 23, 1991 (28)
Hometown: Miami, Florida
Birthplace: New York City, New York
Height: 5-8
Weight: 168
Nationality: United States
Transaction: FC Dallas acquires winger Fafà Picault from Philadelphia Union in exchange for $300,000 of 2020 General Allocation Money (GAM).
Fafà Picault Highlights
Highlights are always to be skeptical of but did see some finishing the current guys don’t often make. Hopeful
Disappointed that we couldn’t get the French player, but a good pick up all things considered. He’s a good stop gap player at LW. With Santi on a make or break year and not much invested in Farfa I feel like the USL league one mvp player is the future out wide. I read that we may have traded Badji so it still leaves room for a couple HG / NTXSC signings and fingers crossed a DP level CF out of South America I’m predicting.